The present invention relates generally to crates, and more particularly, to a folding crate which can be folded when not in use so as to minimize the required storage space.
Crates that cannot be folded occupy a larger space for storage even though not in use. In response to this problem, folding crates of varying sizes and shapes have been produced. As will be seen in the drawings, a conventional folding crate is usually manufactured by injection molding of plastic material and comprises an upper frame body A, a lower frame body B, and two end panels C, as appears most clearly in FIG. 5. Said upper frame body A comprises two longitudinal side webs D, and said lower frame body B comprises two longitudinal side webs E.
The conventional folding crate can be folded into a state as shown in FIG. 6.
The two longitudinal side webs D of the upper frame body A are foldable as having a linear V-shaped groove F in the inner portion thereof and the two longitudinal side webs E of the lower frame body B are foldable as having a linear V-shaped groove G in the inner portion thereof. This can be seen most clearly at the cutaway section shown in FIG. 7. However, these linear V-shaped grooves, F and G, turn to be the weakest part of the whole structure and may break easily after intensive utilization.